An example of property is a person's house.
- the right to possess, use, and dispose of something; ownership: property in land
- something, as a piece of writing, in which copyright or other rights are held, specif., one acquired for production as a film
- a thing or things owned; possessions collectively; esp., land or real estate owned
- a specific piece of land or real estate
- any trait or attribute proper to a thing or, formerly, to a person; characteristic quality; peculiarity; specif., any of the principal characteristics of a substance, esp. as determined by the senses or by its effect on another substance: the properties of a chemical compound
- something regarded as being possessed by, or at the disposal of, a person or group of persons: common property
- Logic a quality common to all members of a species or class
- any of the movable articles used as part of the setting or in a piece of stage business, except the costumes, backdrops, etc.
Origin of propertyMiddle English proprete ; from Old French proprieté ; from Classical Latin proprietas ; from proprius, one's own
- a. Something owned; a possession.b. A piece of real estate: has a swimming pool on the property.c. Something tangible or intangible to which its owner has legal title: properties such as copyrights and trademarks.d. Something tangible or intangible, such as a claim or a right, in which a person has a legally cognizable, compensable interest.e. Possessions considered as a group: moved with all his property.
- A theatrical prop.
- An attribute, characteristic, or quality: a compound with anti-inflammatory properties. See Synonyms at quality.
Origin of propertyMiddle English, from Old French propriete, from Latin proprietas, ownership (translation of Greek idiot&emacron;s), from proprius, one's own; see per1 in Indo-European roots.
(countable and uncountable, plural properties)
- Something that is owned.
- Leave those books alone! They are my property.
- A piece of real estate, such as a parcel of land.
- There is a large house on the property. Important types of property include real property (land), personal property (other physical possessions), and intellectual property (rights over artistic creations, inventions, etc.).
- Real estate; the business of selling houses.
- He works in property as a housing consultant.
- The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying and disposing of a thing.
- An attribute or abstract quality associated with an individual, object or concept.
- Charm is his most endearing property.
- An attribute or abstract quality which is characteristic of a class of objects.
- Matter can have many properties, including color, mass and density.
- (computing) An editable or read-only parameter associated with an application, component or class, or the value of such a parameter.
- You need to set the debugging property to "verbose".
- (usually in the plural, theater) An object used in a dramatic production.
- Costumes and scenery are distinguished from property properly speaking.
(third-person singular simple present properties, present participle propertying, simple past and past participle propertied)
- (obsolete) To invest with properties, or qualities.
- (obsolete) To make a property of; to appropriate.
property - Legal Definition